Black's Daughter

Gabriella Artemisia Monroe had grown up without a father. Not unheard of, not in this day and age, but Gabriella didn't care how commonplace it was. No girl should have to struggle through childhood and adolescence without a father. She felt his absence keenly in everything she did; she missed his presence at her ballet recitals and her heart broke every time she gazed out into the stands from the pitcher's mound and saw no man there screaming wildly for his daughter. Every year on Father's day Gabriella would lock herself in her room and cry and wish on everything from the rising sun to a shooting star that one day her father would come for her.

Gabriella had tried to coax information on him from her mother. Her mother, Sydney, would never breathe a word though, of his name, his whereabouts, not even if Gabriella had inherited her talent at athletics from him (Sydney was terribly clumsy, Gabriella had perfected the 911 call by the time she was 3 from all her mother's tumbles and kitchen mishaps). Gabriella had had to surmise a picture of her father by taking note of all the aspects of her that did not come from her mother.

Her eyes were a dark velvety green; the exact same shape and shade of her mother's so that didn't help Gabriella form much a picture. She decided her father's eyes were brown, soft and friendly like a puppy's. Her hair must have come straight from her father though; her hair was a sleek black sheet that fell to her waist, perfectly straight without the tiniest flyaway or split end to mar its inky sheen. Gabriella thought her father's hair must be the same color (much shorter of course!). Her mouth was the same pink lush mouth of her mother's, which made sense; Gabriella couldn't imagine such a feminine pout on a man's face. She was pretty sure the slender lines of her body and soft swelling curves were from her mother –in her mind, her father was tall and broad, all angles and sharpness. She had very nice, small ears though that she thought maybe had come from her father. And, of course, her athletic talent had come from him. She wasn't so sure about her brains though, while her mother was clumsy and a little scatterbrained, she was very bright. Gabriella figured her mother wouldn't have fallen for a complete moron though and she wouldn't settle for having an idiot for a father, so she decided he was very clever. She probably had inherited her amazing artistic ability from him too as her mother couldn't even draw a straight line.

But…all the mystery surrounding Gabriella's father was suddenly unveiled on her sixteenth birthday. On that day, Sydney sat her daughter down at the kitchen table of their New England home and said solemnly, "Gabriella. I think it is time that you knew…who your father is."

Gabriella held her breath and stared at her mother. At last, all the answers to her questions would come…at last she would finally fill that gaping hole in her life. At last, Gabriella would know who she REALLY was, where she truly came from…

"I met your father when I was very young, at school," Sydney began. A faraway tone crept into her voice and her emerald eyes became dreamy as she continued, "We always knew each other…but never really became close till Seventh year. We started going out…and I suppose we fell in love. Most people think you can't fall deeply in love at seventeen…but we did. We planned to get married someday, but we were just eighteen when we left school…that seemed too young."

Gabriella couldn't contain herself, she interrupted impatiently. "This is all great Sydney, but what was his NAME? What was he like? Do you have any pictures!" (Gabriella had always called her mother Sydney; it kept them on the level of equals and best friends rather than a restrictive traditional mother-daughter relationship.)

Sydney smiled. "He was very handsome…black hair, gray eyes…so tall and so strong. He was funny and very clever…he liked to show off. He…" Sydney sighed and closed her eyes briefly. "I'm doing this all wrong. I just need to come out and say it…all right." Sydney opened her eyes and stared straight into Gabriella's. "I...your father is…we're magic. A witch and wizard. And you…you, Gabriella are a witch."

Gabriella gasped. "Magic's not real, Sydney! And if it was – I've never done anything amazing in my life!"

Sydney smiled. "It is real…you just haven't noticed it in yourself because I've had charms placed on you to harness your magic for the past sixteen years. You see…there was a very evil wizard who wanted to rid the Wizarding World of all non-magic folk…your father and I fought him, but it appeared that he turned to this terrible wizard…for 13 years, I believed him to have betrayed me and all that I stood for. So I left England and moved here, to America, where I found out that I was nearly three months pregnant with you…and I couldn't let him know about you. I still thought he was a…a murderer and I couldn't risk having anyone know about you or have you trying to find him. So I held back your magic and tried to live normally but…after all these years…I've been contacted by an old friend from Hogwarts...your father was innocent. And now he's dead." Sydney's eyes suddenly filled with tears. She sniffed loudly, trying to hold them back. "I feel so horrible that you and he never got a chance to know each other but…I'm going to try to make it up to you. As of now, I've unlocked your magic. But don't think you can just start turning people into frogs…I'm taking you back to England so you can start school. Proper wizarding school, not this watered down Muggle stuff you've had for the past ten years. I know you'll be an amazing witch."

"Sydney," Gabriella said quietly, trying to soak it all in. "What was my father's NAME?"

"Sirius Black. Your true name is Gabriella Artemisia Black."

To Be Continued…

A/N: I have so many plans for this fic! Gabriella's gonna start at Hogwarts and be really awkward at first but she'll make friends with Harry, Ron, and Hermione (they can all bond over Sirius!) and then Hermione will help her catch up and she'll be AMAZING then. And I think as a cute little side story, I'll have Sydney and Remus fall in love (they can bond over Sirius too LOL!), won't that be sweet? R&R and tell me what you think of this fic so far and of my future plans! Haha, laters!